Thursday, May 19, 2011

Mid–Century Bright




David Klein is one of my favorite artists from one of my favorite design eras.
His vibrant saturated palette and exuberantly decorative designs reflect
the optimistic spirit of the times and his personal fascination
with bright colors and abstract shapes and patterns. 


David Klein was born in El Paso in 1918 and studied at the Art Center School in Los Angeles. 
During the 1930s he worked and exhibited as a fine art painter in California.
After serving in the army during World War II, Klein moved to New York and 
became the art director of a theatrical advertising agency where he produced 
window cards and posters for many successful Broadway shows.


Most of these images come from the David Klein website curated
by his estate, which hosts a rich selection of his works.


Around 1957, Klein was commissioned to illustrate a series of travel posters 
for Trans World Airlines. The gorgeous, colorful and innovative artworks 
which ensued have become his most famous and beloved creations
and many of them can be found here and there on the web.



 Recently, the very informative Today's Inspirations has posted 
beautiful high quality scans of some of these posters, and 
you can see a tribute by contemporary artists on illostribute.






Klein also illustrated children's books, but unfortunately 
I have no information about the titles, dates or publishers.



A lovely series of limited edition prints featuring animals
created by Klein in 1966 is now available at Rosie Hippo.

3 comments:

  1. Beautiful stuff! I've never seen his work before, now I love it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now that is an eye catching snail, fab!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautiful work! so well donde and inspiring! great discovery, thanks a lot!

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails